Oh, tell us not we may not mourn,
Whose hearts with bitter grief are wrung,
When sudden from our arms are torn
The loved, the beautiful, the young;
Grief’s lessons are so calm and deep,
‘T were sad indeed we could not weep.
‘T is not in vain the heart is made
To melt with sorrow, nor in vain
Affliction’s hand is on us laid,
For holiest joy is born of pain;
The joy serene which lifts the soul
Above the earth and its control.
The glorious bow, which never bowed
In promise o’er a clear blue sky,
Gleams brightly, when the sunlit cloud,
Storm-freighted, reels in terrors by;
So on the very clouds of Death
Heaven kindles in the light of Faith.
Brighter and brighter, day by day,
Is poured that holy light within,
Whose chastened and undazzling ray
Leads upward from the shades of sin;
While earthly pleasure’s blinding glare
Grows fainter on the misty air.
Above the gathering clouds of woe,
The eye of Faith, in calm delight,
Rests on the enchanting fields which glow
In radiance divinely bright,
Where saints redeemed, and seraph choir,
Hosannas wake with tongue and lyre.
And stronger, in that strength divine
Which comes from GOD, his soul shall rise,
Who kneels before Affliction’s shrine,
To yield his willing sacrifice;
And they shall reap, who sow in tears,
Rich gladness through the eternal years.
Then let us weep, but not despair;
For, when the clouds of Sorrow come,
HEAVEN writes in rainbow colors there
The promise of our better home;
Our tears of earnest grief may heal
The wounds our broken spirits feel.
Grief's Blessings